I know a popular topic among Silhouette crafters is how to convert Silhouette Studio files to SVGs. This is necessary to open Studio files in other software programs or to share with a friend. Today, Silhouette School weekly contributor, Becky Dykes is here with a new, quick, easy and FREE way to do convert from Studio file to SVG.
For a while now, I've toyed with converting Studio files to SVG files. As a matter of fact, we posted here at Silhouette School just how to convert files using Inkscape (free software download). One issue we discovered was that tracing in Inkscape wasn't as good as tracing in most other softwares, so we left that part out. But what we're sharing with you today has been a mini-revelation and we are thrilled to be able to give you a fool-proof way to convert your Studio files to SVG.
Because we give away so many free Studio files on our blog, My Paper Craze, we get tons of requests from readers on if they can have the files in SVG format. It really pushed me to research a viable way to do this that was both time efficient and produced quality SVG files, as both are equally important.
Finally, we stumbled across a website: OnlineConvert.com. We were pretty excited about this find, because as an added benefit, we didn't have to install any more software on our computer to test it out.
First, you'll open your file in Silhouette Studio. Because most tracing is based on contrast (and this file conversion is not much different), change your colors to black and white. Again, this won't work very well with colored designs!
MAC Users: Use the Grab program (search Grab in the Finder) to take a screen shot of the design in Silhouette Studio. This will save the design as a .tiff which works fine to convert to SVG later in the process.
PC users: You can go two different directions. #1 Take a screenshot and paste it into Paint, then isolate the part that you need to convert to SVG. Once you have only the design you want to keep, go ahead and save as a JPEG.
Option #2 is to use your Bullzip printer to print the file as a JPEG. This is pretty easy too and probably has better quality than a screenshot. If you need help using Bullzip or need a refresher on what Bullzip is, check out how we used it to export a Studio file as a PDF (a JPEG works the same).
Once you have your JPEG in black and white, pull up Online-Convert.com. You'll want to make sure you go to the image converter for SVG formats. The first step is to go ahead and upload the JPEG you just created. Click BROWSE and locate it on your computer.
After locating your image, you'll scroll down and see a few options. I always have the best luck when I choose COLOR: MONOCHROME and ENHANCE: SHARPEN. Feel free to play around and see what works best for you. When you're ready, choose CONVERT FILE.
Once the file is converted, your computer should prompt you on what to do with the new SVG file. I chose to save the file to my computer, which is what you see below. Depending on what operating system you are using, your computer might prompt differently.
To test out the quality of my SVG, I imported it into my Library in Silhouette Studio. I always test these files to make sure they are direct duplicates of my Studio files.
As you can see, my files look exactly the same! Being able to convert your files into SVG format just opens up a lot of sharing opportunities, either between yourself and other crafters or between your Silhouette Studio designs and other software.
Thanks for coming to class today at Silhouette School. If you like what you see, I'd love for you to pin it!
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The website is online-convert.com. You have to have to dash in there if you're going to type it into your browser.
ReplyDeleteFirst I just want to say I LOVE YOUR BLOG..... THANK YOU Next I am wondering if you know of a way to convert WPC files to a file usable by the Cameo. I own so many WPC files (Pazzles) I would love to be able to use with my Cameo....Thank you
ReplyDeleteI believe you can convert them using Make the Cut, but it isn't cheap. https://www.make-the-cut.com
DeleteLove your website and learning SO much. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you for all of the helpful information! I tried it just to see if it would work for me. Every time I downloaded my image, the letter i dot from my word would not be there, but the rest of the image was. Did I do something wrong?
ReplyDeleteI've been using a similar conversion site for a while. The one I use converts the actual Studio file to SVG format and works great! You can convert up to 10 files per day for free. They also have another tool that will convert the FCM files used by the Brother ScanNCut to SVG format. Here are the links for both:
ReplyDeleteStudio to SVG: http://www.ideas-r-us-software.uk/FileConverters/SilhouetteStudioConverter.aspx
FCM to SVG: http://www.ideas-r-us-software.uk/FileConverters/BrotherFCMConverter.aspx
I tried using your link and every time I convert a file to svg it ends up being bigger when I open it in silhouette design studio 3. I also tried the method mentioned in the blog and still they end up being too big.
DeleteThank You for that Studio to SVG link ! I was trying to upload some designs I created on Silhouette to my glowforge and this conversion link worked perfect !
DeleteWindows users can also use the Snipping Tool that I believe is included with Windows to take a snapshot of whatever part of their screen they want and save it as a Jpeg or Png file (this tool is included with Windows 10 and I believe Windows 8 and 7 as well). I use it all the time when doing things like this.
ReplyDeleteAMAZING FIND!!!!! thank you!!
ReplyDeleteGah I really could have used this over the weekend. I almost threw my machine out of the window. I was trying to print and cut a design that I created that was in 12x12 format so I had to get it printed but using the print to PDF feature didn't work because of the available paper sizes... I ended up having to chop it up and piece it together afterward. :/
ReplyDeleteEvery time I do this, it cuts off half my image even though it's in the mat portion of my sil software. Also when I've resized to make it fit in the tiny area it allows, when I've gone through all the steps... grid lines appear in my letters. I filled them in black, I removed the grid from the mat, and I colored the mat white. I don't understand why they are there.
ReplyDeleteI've tried using this method to convert and I've been able to convert a JPEG and save as a SVG. However, when I go to Silhouette and select "Import to Library" and try to import the SVG, it tells me the file I'm trying to import is not supported. Please advise! What am I doing wrong?
ReplyDeleteYou can only import SVG files with upgraded silhouette studio. Get business and you have way more options.
DeleteThis was SUPER HELPFUL!!! Thank you so much!!!
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